Average Hay intake per rabbit

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Hello all! I know that this question could get a wide variety of answers, but I figured it is worth a shot. I am budgeting for the upcoming purchase of a Jersey Wooly buck and I was wondering if anyone can give me a ballpark on how much hay this little guy will eat. I know that they need unlimited hay, but does anyone has an estimate on about how many pounds he will go through in a year? Thank you for any help!!!

Oh, and this will be in addition to his 1/2ish cup of Purina pellets each day. Thanks!
 
From personal experience, some eat a lot, some very little. I am not sure there is a way to predict it.
 
If you buy a bale from the feed store for about $10 it will last you all year. If you buy the expensive bags of designer brands from pet stores it will seem to disappear in no time. While I have to admit the fancy western timothy look and smell better, I cannot justify spending the big bucks. My rabbits don't turn their noses on the cheap hay.
 
Tractor supply does sell hay, but it, in my experience, is expensive and low quality. Look on craigslist...often farmers will list hay for sale for a couple dollars per bale for good hay. Each of my rabbits eats a different amount of hay, but even with my biggest eaters it would take a few months to go through a bale of hay per rabbit.
 
It might be problematic to store an entire bale for just one rabbit. You might find someone willing to sell it in feed bag increments for a LOT less than pet store prices. (I would guess about $1/bag) Most farmers I know would just laugh and let you have a bag for free if you wanted it for just one little bunny.
 
Zass":3cacje1i said:
It might be problematic to store an entire bale for just one rabbit. You might find someone willing to sell it in feed bag increments for a LOT less than pet store prices. (I would guess about $1/bag) Most farmers I know would just laugh and let you have a bag for free if you wanted it for just one little bunny.

You could climb into DH's grandpa's trailers and scrape that off the floor from where it fell off the bales, or one broke open :cool: I know his hay quality depends greatly on which field (or even part of the field) it came from - I see Purina and Southern States trailers being loaded up a couple times a year. Going by that very limited information on their suppliers, I would guess that the quality of what you can get would vary drastically.
 
I was able to find feed stores using the Purina site store locator. I think most brands have store locators cause they want you to be able to buy their feed.
 
bikegurl":1erbds59 said:
Tractor supply does sell hay, but it, in my experience, is expensive and low quality. Look on craigslist...often farmers will list hay for sale for a couple dollars per bale for good hay. Each of my rabbits eats a different amount of hay, but even with my biggest eaters it would take a few months to go through a bale of hay per rabbit.

I agree with this post. I buy mine locally within a 10 minute drive. I have been paying in the summer 4 to 5 a bale and in winter it goes up to 6 a bale. If you just got the one bunny then I am guess and it depends on how you do it meaning a hay rake or just throwing it in the cages. I will say you might got thru a quarter of a bale per month. And if you are using it has beding plan another quarter or so a month. I use mine as bedding slash food. Which put on the floor of the cage it helps with their feet on the wire floor. But once the pee on it I cages it out. Most of the time daily to twice a day if needed. It seems that when the pee on it they slow down on eating it. This my reason for keeping it as fresh as I can without braking the bank. Hope this helps.
 
For my rabbits, which are meat producers, they are given rations of pellets and all the hay they can eat. There are times when all they want is hay and barely touch their daily rations and still other that their hay mangers stay full for a couple days in a row. According to http://www.bunnybunch.org/pages/ a rabbits diet should consist of 80% hay, 5% healthy pellets, 5% healthy treats, and 10% veggies. Basically with 4 breeding does with litters, 2 breeding bucks, and any where from 2-3litters in grow out at a time I go through 1-75lb bale of horse quality hay per month.

Hope this helps,
Cathy
 
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